Bulgaria Alleged Criminal Threatens to Put Himself on Fire

Crime | May 16, 2010, Sunday // 15:22
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Alleged Criminal Threatens to Put Himself on Fire “People, who are walking the tight rope between business and politics, are the initiators of the attacks against us,” Plamen Stoyanov, an alleged member of the crime group known as “The Octopus”, told a news conference on Sunday. Photo by BGNES

Plamen Stoyanov, an alleged member of the crime group known as “The Octopus”, has threatened to put himself on fire after police rummaged his office.

“I would not shy away from going into extremes. I don't give a damp. I will swallow some petrol and go into flames like a torch. The government is making a fool out of seven million Bulgarians,” Stoyanov complained at a news conference a day after police officers and prosecutors stormed into his office on allegations of siphoning steel maker Kremikovtzi.

“This government wants to impose a dictatorial regime in Bulgaria. I will alert all embassies and institutions about what is going on in this country,” Stoyanov said, adding that the cabinet is deliberately pushing the business to the brink of bankruptcy.

Sofia City Court put earlier in the week a restraint on properties owned by Petar Stoyanov and valued at BGN 41 M.

The restraint came on the request of the committee in charge of seizing the illegally acquired assets in favor of the state or the so-called “Kushlev Committee”, named after its head, Stoyan Kushlev.

The individuals arrested in February, during a special police operation, codenamed “Octopus” are investigated on charges of racket, illegal drug trading, prostitution and other criminal activities. Out of the 14 people detained only alleged ringleader, Aleksei Petrov, and his right hand, Marcelo Dzholotov, remain behind bars. Their restrained properties are valued at BGN 3.3 M and BGN 642 000 respectively.

Pertov is, however, not the wealthiest of all – in a TV interview Kushlev pointed out that the person with the most money is Plamen Stoyanov, one of the 2 Dambovtsi Brothers aka the Big Dambovets, whose assets are estimated at BGN 32.3 M and include an entire apartments building, farm lands, forests, 17 automobiles, 90 heavy trucks, companies' shares. His younger brother – Yordan aka the Little Dambovets, only had BGN 0.5 M, Kushlev said.

According to witnesses in the trial, a firm owned by the Dambovtsi Brothers and controlled by Aleksei Petrov provided security services for the Kremikovtzi steel mill, which paid him BGN 700,000 each month.

After the contract of Petrov’s firm was terminated, the troubled Kremikovtzi plant started paying only BGN 300 000 monthly for the same service to another company. An anonymous witness claims that Petrov threatened the former CEO of Kremikovtzi Alexander Tomov, when Tomov moved to terminate the security contract.

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Tags: Octopus, Aleksei Petrov, DANS, special operation, secret agent, organized crime, interior ministry, Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, police, Stoyan Kushlev, Marcelo Dzholotov, Dambovtsi brothers

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